The Forest

Safety Inside

He had never felt so alone. He didn't want to leave Ogli behind and he wondered if he would ever see her again but he had to find a way out of the forest and back to his home where it was safe and real.  With each step he took, he could feel the sound of brittle leaves colliding together and shattering to pieces under the weight of his shoes.  He thought about the sign on the tree he sat staring in front of not so long ago.  He remembered the words vividly, Tread Ahead, Steady on Stones, Lightly on Leaves, Clumsy on Caution...Masterpiece Believes.  It was dark now and the moon, unaware of its mockery, lit up the empty branches above him.  He wasn't quite sure what it all meant.  As he walked with the moon on his shoulders, he tried to make sense of it.  Just what was he supposed to figure out and how would it help him escape?  Was this to be taken literally or figuratively, he thought.  Maybe it was some sort of riddle like the old mare said, he settled on in his mind.  He wanted to trust her.  He hoped her words were genuine and that her stone really did posses magical powers but he had no idea what they were and how he would find them.  As he continued walking, he made a deliberate attempt to avoid the noise under his feet.

"I wonder if my mom is worried about me," he thought.  It had been hours since he was last tucked neatly away in his bed, the touch of his mom's kiss still lingering on his cheek.  He shuddered to think of her confusion in his absence.

"When I get home, I'm going to give my mom the biggest hug ever!" His thoughts roamed back to an image of her, waiting for him.  He knew how much she loved him.  

"Look for me, and I will be there.  But if you don't see me, remember I was once standing there."

These words of hers often consoled him when he was a young child. And now, he realized he needed them more than ever.

The leaves, thinning out on the path in front of him went quiet and every once in a while, he would kick up a few, juggling them on the end of his toes like a soccer ball, most commonly referred to as his best friend.  He tried to remember where he last left it.  Maybe it was in the backyard?  Or maybe it was in his bedroom somewhere nestled underneath the soccer jersey still damp with sweat from his last game.  It was the match that got his team to the state finals to compete for the Carolina title.  They were tied 1-1 in the last quarter with about 5 minutes to go.  His coach motioned to Joel to get ready to go in.  He had one job to do and he had been practicing all season with his team to get it right.  It wasn't that it was difficult, it's just that it required all of his teammates to be in the right place at the right time and their opponents to be slightly off their game. Jack figured if all the conditions were right, he had about a fifty-percent chance of executing it perfectly.  And the other fifty-percent took up residence deep down in his psyche, somewhere masked in an elegance of humility.

"You're in Jack, you know what to do," his coached yelled from the sideline. 

Jack rushed in on a game hinged on a door about to close.  The whistle  blew and a mix of adrenaline and nerves pulsed through him vehemently.  The shot he had to make to Louie was a corner shot out of right field, across a chain of players likely defending the goal, right into the striking distance of Louie's left foot.  They practiced it a million times but with the pressure of a winning goal riding on his level of play that day, execution and confidence needed to make quick friends.  The ball seemed wildly out of his control that day, like a pinball machine tallying up points against him and his teammates seemed reckless and out of focus.  The ball, mid-field, was in sight but out of reach.  The sidelines roared as their team was drenched in exhaustion. One minute remaining meant something needed to happen fast.

"Out-wide, out-wide," a call from the line from his coach. "Come on guys, this is what we practiced. It's the big show now, come on!!"

His team, regaining possession every few bad passes, was on course to send the ball to his corner.  And with his lateral kick, goal side, Louie's left foot would be a star.  There were a lot of feet on the field that day wanting to be stars, but this was his chance.  Jack was in position to make the play and the ball arrived on his doorstep like he had hoped, but so did his defender, narrowing his chances of success.  A slide tackle directly into Joel's ankle landed him on the turf, launching the ball right into the path of another defender.  The ball was up for grabs as a scrambled mess of players all went for it.  It took only a fraction of a second before the ball landed across the goal line, beaming in glory.  They had won.